eugene kiernan and beautiful rendition of fly me to the moon by diana krall. "happening now" starts right now. jenna: washington, d.c. and happenings there but we'll turn to what is happening in the mideast. americans under attack. we're glad you're with us. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. we get brand new video of embassy attack in libya when a angry mob stormed the u.s. consulate in benghazi killing four americans including the u.s. ambassador. the situation not calming down at all since then. thousands taking to the streets in cairo today near the u.s. embassy there. that country's president vows to protect american personnel. meantime yemen's president ordering an investigation into today's storming of the u.s. embassy in the capital city of sanaa. hundreds of rioters scaling that building there, setting

fire to cars, tearing down and burning the american flag as well. greg palkot is following all of the breaking developments live from london. to yemen first, greg, what is the latest there? >> reporter: jon we've been to that embassy a few times. it is pretty well-fortified and pretty secure yet another u.s. embassy that has been targeted and targeted today it was. hundreds of protesters managed to scale the perimeter walls, break through the main gate and enter the security building in front of the compound of the embassy. they smashed windows and torched cars. security guards shot into the air. they were outnumbered. yemen security came in and fired back. reports of injuries and arrests. no injuries to the american personnel in that building. we're told many were evacuated for their own good. this comes in the wake of all the riots we've seen

related to that made in u.s. anti-muslim film. but we also have to say from our experience on the ground in yemen, it is home base to one of the most dangerous chapters of al qaeda, jon. jon: that's for sure. what about cairo. what are you hearing about that? >> another day of protests there, jon. we've been speaking to embassy officials. they have been telling us they're kind of on minimal function today but people, americans are in there but it is maximum security. they have pushed out the police cordon away from the embassy. so we're not seeing anything like we saw on tuesday when protesters were scaling the walls of the embassy and tearing town the down the flag but we're seeing a lot of dangerous action in the streets. police clashing with protesters, again, more injuries, more arrests. the egyptian president spoke out today. he said, this is something probably reassuring to washington, that they wanted to hear this coming from president morsi. that he would defend the right of diplomats to act

securely in cairo, but in fact he also spoke out in favor of peaceful protests and against that film, a massive protest is planned for tomorrow, jon. jon: so the egyptian police are coming through with more security? >> reporter: yeah. they are there. it is beefed up and also we're told that security provided by the u.s. embassy itself is beefing up as well too but apparently on tuesday, they let things get out of hand and we saw what happened, jon. jon: well the tear gas canisters appear to be flying right now. just as we've been watching this live during your reporting. greg palkot live from london. greg, thank you. we're getting more information on the americans murdered at the consulate in benghazi. aside from ambassador christopher stevens and sean smith, a foreign service information officer, we've learned the identity of the third of the four americans killed in the embassy attack in libya. according to "the boston globe." glen

doherty was a former navy seal his sister said. he was working for private security company and had been working security detail protecting the ambassador. record he hadly he spent seven years in the navy where he served in iraq and afghanistan. glen doherty was 42 years old. jenna: u.s. beefing up military presence off the libyan coast, ordering two destroyers into the region. the uss mcfall is set to arrive within days. both ships are armed with tomahawk cruise missiles that can be fired at targets on land. the navy is calling this a precautionary step. the ships are not operating under a specific mission but we're keeping an eye on that. we're learning more about the groups that may or may not have been behind those attacks across the middle east. in libya fox news confirming that u.s. intelligence is focusing on a handful of organizations including the libyan islamic fighting group.

chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge live in washington. maybe an unfamiliar group with some of us, catherine. what are we learning about the investigation into libya. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. fox news confirmed the fbi has a team on the ground in libya to identify suspects, gather evidence and assess whether a prosecution is possible. as fox news was first to report the targeted killing of ambassador coordinated and may be linked to a group called lifg or the libyan fighting islamic group. it was banned by the former dictator muammar qaddafi because of its support for al qaeda. the head of the house intelligence committee is one of few members of congress fully briefed on the attacks and the investigation. >> even though we can't say for sure this was an al qaeda event yet it certainly fits the profile, it fits the signature, the precision, the way that they carried out this particular attack, certainly would make it likely that it is an al qaeda affiliated organization. >> reporter: this morning the libyan foreign ministry

saying that they believe a group called ansar al sharia was involved. they support the extremist goal of imposing strict sharia law in that country. jenna: ongoinging investigation as we learn more about libya. what about cairo? what are we learning about the investigation there. >> reporter: this is one of the most important developments today. this morning fox news was told a credible islamic website the relatives of the blind sheikh jailed in the u.s. for the world trade center attack were at the demonstrations outside the embassy along with the brother of al qaeda leader, ayman al-zawahiri. the investigation is in early stages. what has the attention of analysts that the egyptian prime minister morsi pushed the united states for the release of the blibd sheikh, releasing demonstrations at the same site of the u.s. embassy. they tell fox that the egyptian group takes its name from the omar al rack man from the blind sheikh. >> inspired by the first

world trade center bombings some it is a group that has been around a long time. it has some staying power clearly since the early '90s and it is a group we have looked at in the past, we have tracked in the past and we'll continue to ask questions in relation to this particular event to see if there is any connection. >> reporter: there the question is whether there is some degree of coordination or whether the demonstration we're seeing like those in yemen this morning are spontaneous. one group of demonstrators feeding off another. the second question is whether the governments that are relatively weak will have the ability to offer the security the united states needs for its embassies in those countries. congressman rogers told fox a pressing question is why the egyptian government did not apparently provide the perimeter security in cairo that allowed these demonstrators to get to the wall of that embassy, jon. jenna: we continue to watch the live shots out of cairo. the big question about security there, still one that's looming especially with the protests we expect

tomorrow as well to be bigger and bolder than we see. >> reporter: tomorrow is a big mark year tell us about that. leave the live shot. tell us what folks are talking about, what they expect for tomorrow, catherine. >> reporter: there has been a call for mass demonstrations. based on my conversations friday will be a significant marker, almost a litmus test what direction this is going in. i think it's worth noting that this morning we have heard from the secretary of state hillary clinton already calling for restraint in advance of what may be significant demonstrations on friday. jenna: a quick final question, catherine, the muslim brotherhood that is now in government, there's been some mixed messages about whether or not they supported the protests on tuesday, whether or not they're rallying demonstrators for friday. do you know any of the discrepancies whether or not quite frankly that's relevant? >> reporter: i don't want to offer speculation on that but i what caution people when you talk about these groups like the brotherhood, they are not monolithic. they do not speak with one

voice and they are desparate factions within these groups. so internal conflict may explain some of the mixed messages we've seen already. jenna: some great perspective, catherine. thank you very much. >> reporter: you're welcome. jon: president barack obama is now urging libya and egypt to continue working with the u.s. to insure the safety of our diplomatic personnel. mr. obama's calling libya's president to thank him for his condolences for the american lives lost as reaching out to egypt's leader to strengthen at from the attacks on tuesday. chief correspondent ed henry is live at the white house. the president is suggesting a major shift toward u.s. policy in egypt? >> reporter: this is a seismic shift, jon. we spent a lot of time focused on libya, rightly so, four americans tragically killed there. the violence started at u.s. embassy in cairo.

the fact of the matter is top u.s. officials acknowledge privately that the bigger long term foreign policy for this president and future administration is likely to be egypt. it had been a stalwart ally for decade. once the mubarak government fell. you have president morsi in power as you noted. ties to the muslim brotherhood. he is slow to denounce any of this violence. in an interview with telemundo last night president obama suggested they may no longer be an ally. take a listen. >> i don't think that we would consider them an ally but we don't consider them an enemy. they are a new government that is trying to find its way. they were democratically elected. i think that we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident. how they respond to, for example, maintaining the peace treaty with israel. >> reporter: now as you noted the president also had a phone call with president morsi of egypt late last night and the white house reedout on the call said

they spoke about their strategic participate. didn't say they spoke about their alliance a clear shift now in u.s. policy, jon. jon: all right. what about the aid to egypt? there have been all kinds of calls for a cuttoff or a severe reduction in aid to egypt. any reaction from the white house to that? >> reporter: so far the white house is cool to that idea. they think we need to stay engaged with egypt obviously. republicans like peter king though suggesting that we should cut off billions of dollars in aid going to egypt. here is peter king a short time ago on our air. >> friday the muslim brotherhood called for another round of demonstrations. president morsi comes out of the muslim brotherhood. he is in a unique position to denounce the demonstrations and say they should not occur and if there is any lawlessness whatsoever they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. i think aid to egypt should be suspended or threat to suspended unless there is

an immediate response by egypt. >> reporter: there is the on the table forgiving a billion dollars of debt egypt owes that will be very controversial as well, jon. jon: ed henry at the white house. taking you back to washington now as well. if you've been watching our coverage the memorial service for neil armstrong is underway. bret? >> we heard michael collins, commander of module for apollo 11. he led the service. in the blue tie on the left side of your screen, john glenn, getting ready to hear the national anthem here in the national cathedral. let's take a listen to this inside. ♪ .

♪ o beautiful for ♪

[america, america, god shed grant thigh love ♪ ♪ .

♪ . >> that of course, "america

the beautiful", and as you see, nasa administrator charles bolden is presenting an american flag flown at half-mast mast flown over mission control at the johnson space center in houston, texas, to neil armstrong's widow, carol. "america the beautiful" sung by the cathedral choir singers. as the memorial service comes to an end, a memorial service that really dealt with the man, neil armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, an american hero but also all the speakers, including gene cernan talking about how humble he was, how selfless he was, how it was never about him. joining us now syndicated columnist charles krauthamer with final thoughts as we wrap up the memorial services the celebration of neil armstrong's life. charles? >> behind the hero is a man who simply loved to fly. family tells me was a

notoriously slow driver. he would go 10 miles-an-hour, look at all the mirrors, drive them crazy. when they would say anything, he would respond, if it is not supersonic it is just transportation. it was a paradox in him. the fame, the glory was because he walked on the moon but as i said earlier, walking was not what he considered to be a big deal. the great pride he took what he did at andrews air force base, the right stuff experimental pilot. he flew over 200 experimental aircraft, including the x-15, a little tiny jet dropped out of a b-52. it would accelerate to 4,000 miles an hour to the edge of the atmosphere which he would have to pilot on without any power on the way back. when someone asked him, isn't that dangerous? he would respond, not if you don't make any mistakes. he did it seven times and i lived to talk about it. but at the same time he understood the symbolism and

the importance of being the first to walk on the moon. he did not disdain it. in fact he kept it as kind of a sacred trust. he had been the man and yet, he wanted always to make sure that the respect and honor due to that achievement was maintained. he learned once that people were selling his autographs, he stopped giving autographs as a result. he was a man of extraordinary humility. when you hear all the tribute from the astronauts, really deeply felt about this colleague and hero, you realize that this was a man who's reticence, courage, daring, incredible skill and devotion made him the best that america has, the best america has ever had. >> charles, thank you. we heard from a number of speakers today. one of them said, america needs more neil armstrongs. and you know we always talk

about the phrase, that's one small step for man, that's one giant leap for mankind, neil armstrong when he was lanning the lunar module, he said, highs ton, tranquilty base here, the eagle has landed. 50 years ago yesterday president kennedy promised the u.s. would get to the moon within the decade. 43 years ago, neil armstrong did along with a lot of other people. neil armstrong according to anybody here and all his friends and anyone you could talk to was really about everyone else. that brings the conclusion to this memorial service at the national cathedral, a celebration of neil armstrong's life. jon, jenna, we'll send it back to you in new york. jon: bret baier, quite a service, quite a man. i still remember as a little boy going out into the backyard after watching the moon landing and the televised portion of it, walking out into the backyard with my dad and looking up at the moon and

him saying americans are up there now. it was an incredible moment, something i will always remember, something that stood for the greatness of this country and again, as charles was describing, the humility of neil armstrong in the subsequent years has been tremendous. we'll be back in just a moment. we asked over 3,000 doctors to review 5-hour energy

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jenna: we certainly have a lot of big news to report to you today but we can't ignore this headline out of new york city because it really received national attention. the new york city health board, and voting to make sure, that big sugary drinks are not allowed to be sold at restaurants, concession stand, other eateries in the city, movie theaters, for example, and if you do, if your business decides to sell these big sugary drinks,

and by the way the sugary drinks definition is a little bit, you know, is being explored at this time as we were discussing amongst the crew here during commercial break, if you decide to sell these big drinks you can get a fine of about $200. the health board apparently has received, the health department received hundreds of thousands of complaints about this new rule but right now, the health board voting no, jon. 16 ounces and that's it. you are cut off. jon: i feel safer already. jenna: you do? jon: i sure do. jenna: you look a little thirsty. jon: i thought you were saying i look a little fat. jenna: i would never say that to you ever. >> you're allowed you. you're in much big better shape than i am. new york city. there you go. right now the anti-american violence seems to be spreading across the middle east including the u.s. consulate in libya. that's where our ambassador and three other americans were killed. rick folbaum in our new york

city newsroom with how it unfolded. >> reporter: there are hot spots in several different places so we thought it would be helpful to go through the timeline where and when it broke out. it began in cairo tuesday, 12 noon east coast time here in the states. angry egyptians upset possibly over a anti-muslim video scaling the walls of the u.s. embassy there. burning the american flag. replacing it with a islamic flag. seven hours later that's when the violence broke out in libya where protesters stormed the u.s. consulate building in benghazi, torching the place and murdering the u.s. am bass door there chris stevens along with three other diplomats. stevens played a crucial role helping libyans after the overthrow of muammar qaddafi. embassy in libya's capital, tripoli put on lockdown. all non-essential staff evacuated. overnight in yemen, demonstrators flooding the ground of u.s. embassy in

sanaa. getting over a world, into a courtyard. burning tires. pulling down the u.s. flag and raising their own. officials say the compound is safe and that situation is under control but the protests continue in egypt. take a look at these live pictures from near the u.s. embassy in cairo. this is what it looks like there right now now. there have been protests in the gaza strip where palestinians burned the american flag and chanted death to america. and security has been beefed up, jon, at u.s. embassies in many other countries including the philippines, malaysia, indonesia. countries with large muslim populations. we'll keep our eye on things and let you know if nye new violence breaks out. jon: if that is indeed tear gas through the ail imagine we had up. hard to believe anybody is still there. maybe they're smoke grenades. >> reporter: if we get more information we'll pass it along. >> please do. rick folbaum in the newsroom, thanks. jenna: that is raising a lot

of fears not only when it comes to foreign policy but when it comes to our economy. one of the things we watch when there is unrest in the middle east is oil prices. right now the average price of a gallon of regular gas is $3.86. that is up about 16 cents from a month ago as you see on your screen. liz macdonald from the fox business network is live with more. liz, as far as what the impact all of this could be on the market, what is wall street telling you? >> reporter: wall street is telling us they're worried about the impact on consumer wallets because consumer spending basically has been weak and that really is vital to the economic recovery, jenna. and this comes at a time when, you know, the holiday shopping season is about a month and a half away and we're right in the thick of the back to school shopping season. economists by the name of david rosenberg said that the last time he saw the speed which gas prices increased happened in the first quarter of 2011. after that you saw 0% economic growth and it really reversed the stock

market rally that happened after the federal reserve started printing money. so they're worried about a slowdown in the economic recovery if gas prices continue this pretty quick rate of increase, jenna. jenna: we'll continue to watch that emac. thank you. >> reporter: sure. jon: new details emerging in the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. a look about who might behind the violence that killed four americans including u.s. ambassador chris stevens and also a former navy seal. i was born wit. without shriners hospitals, my life would be completely different. they gave me my future back. send your love to the rescue. donate to shriners hospitals, today.

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jon: a fox news alert now on the investigation into the brutal murder of four americans in libya including the u.s. ambassador christopher stevens. questions are still swirling about what really sparked the attack on the u.s. embassy in, the consulate i should say, and whether it was a coordinated strike timed 11 years to the day after the 9/11 terror attacks. we are learning now that a group linked to al qaeda may have been behind the attack. peter hoekstra, a former congressman from michigan and a republican senate candidate there. he is also the former chair of the house permanent select committee on intelligence. so about this attack, coming levens years to the day since the 9/11 attacks, coming after the number two guy in al qaeda, a libyan, was killed in a u.s. drone strike, do you think this attack has anything to do whatsoever with muslims

being offended by that so-called film? >> well, jon, i had the opportunity to maintain many of the contacts that i have had in the national security and the intelligence community and my experience as chairman of the intel committee tells me this movie has nothing to do with it. this all about 9/11 and this new soft underbelly as to where america is vulnerable. we're vulnerable from afghanistan through yemen, through egypt, through libya, al qaeda, other radical elements have identified this vulnerability. and they chose 9/11, 2012, as the time to take advantage of it. jon: the attack on the consulate started around 10:00 p.m.. seems pretty ludicrous that a bunch of innocent libyans suddenly show up at 10:00 p.m. armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and i even heard anti-aircraft missiles to

protest at an embassy. >> yeah. this was not a spontaneous attack. our embassies, our consulates, these were targets. they have been targets in the past. go back to 1998 when we had the attack against our embassy in kenya, tanzania. when these radicals, identify a vulnerability, they have taken at advantage of it. they're doing the same thing because through that arc of instability, we have governments that are either unwilling or unable to protect american interests. jon: catherine herridge reported that ansar al sharia, the libyan offshoot of al qaeda, reportedly may be involved in this. what do you know about that group? >> well i mean, these groups are all popping up all over the place. they share a common ideology. they hate the west, you know. these were the kinds of groups that moammar gadhafi was working with the united

states to keep under control. now that gadhafi is gone, as evil as he was, these groups are now coming up throughout that whole area and they're testing our defenses and they're testing the willingness of the governments that are now in place to defend american interests. you know, we saw what happened on tuesday. we see what's happening now through the week. the real telling tale may be tomorrow. how far will these protests spread on a friday which is the day of prayer for the muslim world? jon: so you expect that things could get worse tomorrow? >> oh, i think over the next, tomorrow will be one sign but over the coming weeks i expect that america is going to be very vulnerable. remember what did al qaeda, what did the radical groups learn on tuesday? what are they learning right now? that the governments in this region, the government in egypt was unwilling, even

though they would be able to, they were unwilling to protect our embassy. in libya, in yemen they're seeing that the governments may be trying to protect our embassies but they are unable to protect american, the american embassies, our consulates and american diplomats. so i think they're going to keep the pressure on. tomorrow it will be part, we may see a continue ages and a growth of this pat are earn. -- pattern. tomorrow is the not final day. it will tell us whether we're on a path of growth. i think we'll see a growth of pressure on the u.s. or whether we've just seen three days of violence and it is going to diminish. i think it will get bigger. jon: we saw in tehran 1979 you can not put enough marines in an embassy to guard it if the host nation is not willing to do its part. what would you do, what would you say to the governments of egypt and tripoli and now, i'm sorry, egypt and libya and now

yemen resulting from these attacks on our diplomatic facilities there? >> well i mean, i think, number one, we've got to protect our interests. i think you will see a strategic retrenchment in each of these countries because you're absolutely right, we can't put enough marines into these countries to protect our interests, to protect our diplomats. we saw that in saudi arabia with the khobar towers. we saw that with the uss cole. so we'll have to have a strategic retrenchment to make sure we minimize our footprint in each of those countries. we need to forcefully use diplomatic pressure to get these countries to stand up and do what they are supposed to do which is protect foreign nationals, to protect foreign embassies within their countries. until they prove that, we'll have to have a smaller footprint in each of these countries. jon: pete hoekstra, who chaired the house intelligence committee for years. thanks, congressman.

>> great, thank you. jenna: well, new reaction to a wave of attacks against americans across the middle east. jon just mentioned this moments ago. i'm sure you heard this mopping your friends or on the news there are comparisons being made between the rioters in egypt and yemen and cairo and what happened in iran, and iranian hostage crisis of 1979. we'll break down the similarities and differences just ahead with historian douglas brinkley next. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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you'll learn the benefits of a government-insured reverse mortgage. it will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you tax-free cash from the equity in your home. and here's the best part -- you still own your home. take control of your retirement today. ♪ ♪ jenna: new reaction to attacks on americans and u.s. interests across the middle east. some drawing comparisons between the murder of americans at the u.s. consulate in libya to the takeover of the u.s. embassy in iran in 1979. i should be clear the comparisons are not just related to what happened in libya but what's happening in yemen and what's happening in egypt as well. but in libya we know that the u.s. ambassador chris stevens was murdered this week. he is the first u.s.

ambassador killed since 1979. in that year the u.s. ambassador to afghanistan was killed in kabul. that was a particularly violent and bloody period. remember in 1979 iranian hostage crisis took place. hundreds of iranians stormed the embassy in tehran. they held 52 hostages for 444 days. eight americans were killed during that incident. now a group of pakistani students attacked and burned down the u.s. embassy in islamabad as well in 1979 and also the u.s. embassy in tripoli was destroyed. so it was particularly a violent period. that's why some of these comparisons are being made. douglas brinkley is a professor of history at rice university. he is also a presidential historian. nice to have you back on the program, douglas, when so many comparisons are being made. how legitimate are these comparisons? >> well, they're very useful because it reminds us we've had problems in the middle east since world war ii. we are, you know, no embassy

in the arab world is safe. you know, just a few months back when the arab spring happened we're all wondering is this a good thing? is this pro-democracy? should we all be celebrating? we've been hesitant. the fear now an arab winter is coming. you will see an increase in islamic terrorism throughout the region to simply stick the finger in the eye of yankee imperialism. yes --. jenna: is that what happened, douglas after the period in 1979? did we see a move towards a more islamist ideology in the middle east? >> well, we saw a move towards crippling an american administration. jimmy carter as president didn't know what to do. the media was going night after night, days held hostage, americans in hostage. there is a feeling we couldn't control our own embassy or liberate people held hostage and a way to

weaken american power and prestige. ronald reagan came in. a deal was negotiated. the hostages were released. for a generation it showed you can fight a giant like the united states using terrorism. and it really wasn't until 9/11 actually happened, we of course, the world trade center had been bombed in the early 90s. we had problems in the clinton years in kenya and tanzania, on the cole but it wasn't until 9/11 that we in america started seeing we're firing a war on terror. sometimes we get lazy about it. we are living in a age of war on terror. like the cold war went on decade after decade, this war on terror did not end simply because usama bin laden was killed. jenna: sometimes we search for patterns when things happen that we can't explain. i'm sure you're well familiar with this as a historian. the comparisons with 1979 just did not bloom overnight what happened in the middle east. we've seen the comparisons

to the presidential election as well. the course of recent events, does that enrich that comparison? do you see patterns if you will? >> there are patterns like this. colin powell famously said about intervention, if you break it, you own it. so when we went into iraq and we broke it and we killed saddam hussein we essentially owned iraq. but building a civil society and a democracy in that part of the world is tough business. nato and the united states did a magnificent job in libya. we got the bad guy, qaddafi is gone but leave as void. if we're there in libya now, we're surrounded by the old qaddafi forces and a kind of islamic terrorist organizations, that can trigger street protests at any moment. you know, we think that the, facebook revolution in cairo for the arab spring was a great thing. now we're getting youtube used against us on a video nobody watched but certainly

with all the talk about it people are looking at this bad hate film. so these are complicated times. the key is that the united states has to realize we're still fighting a war on terror and our vigilance has to be every day and our embassies need quadruple protected and our marines have to go into libya and places and yemen, and protect our embassies. we can not count on the host countries protecting american property. we have to do it ourselves. jenna: douglas, we're seeing live pictures of cairo on the screen. one of the things that has come up when we see these protests and throughout the arab spring and you mentioned it as well, this is democracy in motion. these protest are a part of the growth in the middle east and some have compared it to our own history. and our own violence on our road to democracy. as you know, a template if you will as a point of comparison. again does that comparison work here? >> well, yes, and i think one of the big things viewers have to do, we don't

want to start disliking libyan. there are many libyan freedom fighters, hundreds of thousands of people in libya are putting their lives on the line for democracy. there are many libyans mourning the death of our ambassador. people tried to save him on the way to the hospital. not as if all of libya is celebrating this as a victory. nevertheless, the fact that this was coordinated on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, and the recognition as your previous guests accurately said, we have soft targets. we may be able to create a fortress america and doing well with our airport security and the fbi busted some people. we're scattered all over the world and we're very vulnerable. it gets buried in the news but we're losing soldiers in afghanistan by rogue terror attacks. very hard for united states and embassies to protect themselves against suicide bombers. this is something israel struggles with every day. we'll probably have to

create an even knew counter terror initiative after this debacle in libya. jenna: some things we'll going to watch and a good reminder about afghanistan as well, douglases as we look closely to what is happening around the world. thank you for your time. always appreciate your expertise. >> thank you. jon: seems like almost always trouble in the middle east but the trouble of moment is particularly ominous. more than a year after the arab spring what this means for the region, why senator joe lieberman says a moment of truth could be coming for iran. he will be here live next.

jenna: middle east region in chaos. terror attack in libya,

riots spreading in other countries including egypt, yemen, tunisia and iraq. we can't forget what is happening in iran and iran's march towards nuclear program, nuclear weapons and what's going to happen next. our next guest says quote, i think we have a moment of truth coming. it is about the stability of the middle east and ultimately about the stability of the entire world. senator joe lieberman said that he is chairman of the senate homeland security committee, a member of the armed services committee. senator, talk a little bit more about that. what does the moment of truth look like? >> here is what i said when i said we're coming to the moment of truth in the world's relationship with iran. we've got united nations organizations, international atomic energy agency, reporting to the world that iran continues to increase its supply of enriched nuclear fuel and does a lot of other things that certainly make it look like it's on the path to building

a nuclear weapon. we've got the sanctions against them, economic, that are affecting them but not changing their headlong thrust toward nuclear capability. they reject all the diplomatic initiatives. so we're coming to a moment of truth where the intransigence of iranian regime will present us with only two choices. do we accept a nuclear iran which president obama correctly, admirably said is unacceptable, or do we do the only thing left which is to strike militarily at them to disable their nuclear program. and i think unless something changes, that's the moment of truth. that decision is what we're coming to. and it will effect -- affect the stability of the middle east and of the world. jenna: what sort of timeline do you see on that? >> well, eight's hard to say. i think unfortunately could reach a conclusion based on iran's behavior that they

presented us with only these two choices right now, containment of nuclear iran or attack. maybe something will break but i think we're into a zone of time here where that's the decision a lot of countries, we, most important of all, the israelis and the arab world, which is very worried about the iranian nuclear weapons capability programs. so we're into dangerous territory now. jenna: into dangerous territory. it was described to me the other day what we're witnessing, this was the opinion of the person i was interviewing, an unraveling of our policy. that our friend we're at conflict with, the friends being israel. that the new governments we help put in place are attacking us. that iran is moving ahead. senator, i guess one of the big questions for all americans, how do we gain control of this? >> yeah. i agree. look, these are changes occurring outside of iran in the arab world, the so-called arab spring, that just rose up from the

people's anger at the totalitarian governments that they were living under. some of the new governments elected we're uncertain about. some of them, including libya, i should say, really are moderate rule of law and friendly to america. but, i just came back from a trip to, parts of the middle east, the arab part of the middle east. and i think there's a lot of anxiety there, and a lot of concern about american leadership. though want to see america lead because america is the great provider of stability and with regard to iran the counterbalance to iranian power which frightens everybody in the region except for bashar assad in damascus. i think this is a time for the u.s. to show strength and leadership and that will produce greater stability for the region. jenna: how, senator. i have only 20 seconds but

how do we show leadership? >> i think some people are misreading the fact that we've withdrawn our troops from iraq and afghanistan as a sign we're not interested in the middle east. we have to be interested in the middle east. most important of all we have to deal with iran in a very tough way. with regard to the tragedy in libya, we have to, have no limits to what we do to bring those who killed chris stevens to justice. jenna: senator lieberman, always nice to have you on the program. thank you, sir. >> thank you, jenna. have a good day. jon: as we consider the events going on around the world we have to remember that much of the response comes out of the white house and there is a campaign for the oval office underway right now. live pictures of governor romney campaigning in virginia. he blasted the president's initial response this week to the riots across the middle east. now the gop presidential nominee is facing criticism not only from the left but from members of his own party. a fair and balanced debate

ahead. also two reporters coming under scrutiny after they were overheard coordinating questions for governor romney. an in-depth look at the open mic moment and what it means about news coverage. news watch ahead.

jon: fox news alert for you now, pardon me, doing my research. the u.s. warships are on the move towards libya now as anti-american violence spreads across the region. plus, breaking news from the pentagon. welcome to "happening now," i'm jon scott. jenna: a lot to get your mind around these days, constantly changing. jon: things are changing by the moment. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee, and demonstrators are launching fresh attacks against embassies today in yemen, chanting death to america and egypt there are still huge crowds demonstrating near the u.s. embassy in cairo, and you have protests erupting in iraq calling on the government to shut the u.s. embassy there, not

to mention there's also a riot outside the embassy in tunisia. you have police firing tear gas on the angry mob to try to keep control of things. the violence threatening to spread to other countries as well. u.s. embassies in the region are advising americans to pay close attention to their surroundings, avoid crowds that could suddenly turn violent. certainly a lot to this developing story, as we mentioned. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon with some breaking news on the attack in benghazi that we're learning more about today. jennifer? >> reporter: well, the state department has not, as you know, formally released the name of the two security officers who died in the attack with ambassador chris stevens in benghazi yesterday, but we have learned the identity that a former navy seal, glenn doherty of winchester, massachusetts, was one of those who was killed. he left the military four years ago and was among those killed trying to fend off the more than 50 armed attackers and to save

the ambassador. doherty was a beloved men of the seal -- member of the seal community who served in both iraq and afghanistan, a complete pro according to those who knew him. yesterday we learned from senior administration officials that one of the two security officers, possibly doherty, made it out of the building safely ask and then went back into the burning building to try to save the ambassador. elsewhere, the u.s. navy has positioned two burke class guided missile destroyers off the coast of libya, the uss la doone and the uss mcfall. neither have helicopter assets attached but can support landing on deck, we're told. they're, of course, armed with tomahawk missiles, they're in contingency mode as intelligence analysts begin the hunt for those responsible for killing the american ambassador and his team. the 50 marines who were sent to tripoli, the capital, are part of a team which will guard the embassy and protect 'em embassy personnel. the attack is looking less and less like the protests across the region that started at the

u.s. embassy in egypt. it looks like they're unrelated to that anti-islamic film that has caused the protests outside the u.s. embassy in egypt, also in yemen earlier today when the embassy of yemen was stormed by more than 100 protesters. it looks like the attack in benghazi may have been more related, jenna, to the september 11th anniversary. again, it's looking like a highly-coordinated, very military-style attack on the u.s. ambassador, glenn doherty, sean smith and one other security officer there at the compound. jenna: interesting, unique elements to everything that we're seeing in the middle east, but the timing can't be ignored, all happening in the same week, and certainly momentum that we're watching as well. jennifer, thank you so much for the breaking news on that. jon: so world affairs and troubles in the mideast bleed into the presidential campaign. how could these new developments overseas effect the race for the white house here at home? we've already seen some back and forth between the two campaigns.

karl rove is former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to george w. bush, also a fox news contributor and a man who knows well what happens in to value office and how it can shape the rest of the world. mitt romney and president obama have been in this dust-up about the administration's response to events in the middle east. romney has been criticized for saying what he did. what do you make of that argument, karl? >> well, look, i think it's ironic coming from president obama who during the 2008 campaign as a presidential candidate after nine, i believe it was nine of our troops in afghanistan were killed, he used it as an attack, as an opportunity to launch a political attack on george w. bush saying not enough resources were being sent to afghanistan. so, you know, this idea that mitt romney as a clear presidential candidate should have kept his mouth shut is really weird because it's coming from a man who constantly was using international incidents as a way to attack the bush administration during his own presidential campaign. i would say this, think about

this: a mob is apparently on its way to the embassy in cairo, and the embassy releases a statement. mitt romney is later critical of that statement. the obama administration the critical of -- is critical of mitt romney for criticizing the statement, but it itself distanced itself from the statement saying it did not represent u.s. policy. well, romney and obama agree on the same thing which is that statements should not have been released, it was not in america's interest to do so, so why is obama criticizing romney for having spoke spoken out? it's sort of like it's okay to criticize the sitting president's foreign policy when president obama was running for office, but now that he's president, he doesn't want anybody criticizing him. jon: the white house on the evening of the 12th, last evening, released a readout, sort of what the president did today. i want to read it for you because you've been in the white house, you know what all of this language means.

it says: jon: i don't hear a lot of outrage in that statement, is there outrage that we just don't see? >> well, you know, the tone there is wrong. first of all, there's something that you mentioned that is really ear grabbing, and that is this is the first conversation the president of the united states had with the libyan president. he was elected a month ago, you would say the president would say this is a difficult part of the world, we want to play a

role in the helping the transition to a more western-oriented, more tolerant situation -- jon: right, because we played a role in getting rid of gadhafi. >> well, not much of a role which is why we need to play a bigger role now to establishing this relationship, and the president took -- did not call the new leader of libya for a month. the second thing is, you're right, the tone is a little off. i'd start by thanking him for the condolences, but you'd think the second point would be, you know, we want to emphasize you have responsibilities as a government to help protect our embassies and those of other countries, and we want to know what you're doing. there's one other thing in the readout of yesterday's schedule that is really amazing. the president gets a thing called the presidential daily brief from the intelligence agencies. yesterday on september 12th, the day after september 11th, the day after an assassination of a u.s. ambassador, the president postponed his daily brief by the intelligence community in order

to go to the state department. that was appropriatement he wanted to go console them, appear with the secretary of state and so forth. but he then left for a fundraiser in las vegas and did not have his intelligence brief. and today there's an interesting post, washingtonpost.com by marc thiessen, who called the national security council and said why did the president not have his daily brief with intelligence agents, and they said, well, unlike your boss, president bush, president obama gets the written brief is enough for him, and that's all he needed. well, you and i both know you sit in a meeting, and you're able to ask questions and look people in the eye and have a dialogue is better than just reading a piece of paper particularly when the questions at hand are the security of the and what, howembassy personnel did this happen, who was behind it, what did we know and when did we know it? for the president of the united states to put a fundraiser in las vegas above getting to the bottom of this and depending upon a piece of paper and not bothering to meet with the

intelligence leadership in person is really astonishing. jon: a lot of eyebrows were raised at that decision to go ahead to las vegas. here is part of what the president said while he was there. all right, it appears we don't have that, but one of the things he said, karl, was, you know, after announcing the death of this american ambassador, christopher stevens, he got in front of the -- okay, we do have the sound now. here it is. >> i want to begin tonight by just saying a few words about a tough day that we've had today. you know, we, we lost four americans last night who were killed when they were attacked at diplomatic post in libya. jon: so the death of four

americans is a tough day for the president. >> you know what? i'm trying to contain myself. i can't imagine that the president -- i mean, look, the fundraiser was in vegas, everybody had sent their checks in, they would have understood had the sponsors of the event said the president is at his post in washington trying to get to the bottom of this, coordinating efforts, discussing with our state department and our intelligence community what can be done. they would have understood. remember, the president doesn't instantaneously show up in vegas. he gets off an airplane, gets in a limousine, goes to an event, shakes hand with people, does a photo line, goes out and makes his speech, shakes a few more hands, gets back in the car and drives back to the airport and flies another three, three-and-a-half hours to get back to washington. those seven or eight hours would have been better spent doing the job we elected him to do, president of the united states, rather than heading off to vegas to cash in on some campaign contributions. this is important.

think about this. i mean, the president's statement yesterday mentioned the death of creationer if stevens -- christopher stevens, but he failed to mention the attack in egypt, he failed to send a strong message to the region that we expect the governments in these regions to take the necessary steps to meet their international obligations to protect our embassy, and today we have assaults on how many embassies across the region, and a near break-in to the yemen embassy that sounds strangely, from a distance, strangely akin to what happened in libya. and libya also gets my attention for this reason, this is the second attack this year on the consulate in benghazi, and the consulate in benghazi does not have the normal security arrangements that we have at embassies around the world. it has what's called lock and key security. that is no bulletproof glass, no security arrangements. you've got a key, and you open the door. that's it. and why on 9/11 our ambassador was there is a question that, i

think, needs to be examined because 9/11 -- it may fade from our memories, but it is very present in the jihadists' memories, and it's a day they'll want to strike us on, and we had one of our most valuable assets in the region, this incredible accomplished ambassador who played such a vital role for us in a place where he couldn't be protected. jon: and nobody knows what happened to the documented and other information inside that embassy. karl rove, thank you. >> you bet. jenna: well, the clock is certainly ticking down to the presidential election, and today pennsylvania's supreme court is hearing arguments over this controversial law requiring voters to show id at the polls. we're going to have a live report from the courthouse coming up ahead. also, remembering a true american hero, a memorial service today for astronaut neil armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon. ♪ ♪ are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years?

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jenna: well, we're learning some brand new details about the man who risked his life to help a fledgling democracy in libya. david lee miller is live from our new york city newsroom with more on this. >> reporter: just a few moments ago i got off the phone with the stepfather of ambassador christopher stevens, his stepfather told me that just a short amount of time the family plans to fly to washington, d.c. where they will collect his remains. he also told me that ambassador stevens loved the middle east, he loved the people in the middle east and that it may have been that comfort level, he said, that contributed to his death. listen. >> he knew, knew these people, the rebels and the people in the gadhafi government, and so he felt at ease there, and i think this may have led him to a sense of false security, i don't know. and so, as i say, i don't think he thought, would think that he would have been killed there,

that libyans would have done this. >> reporter: ambassador stevens' stepfather, robert clementi, said that his son dismissed concern that his work in the region was dangerous, at one time telling his mother that the region was no more dangerous than oakland, california, not far from where they live. he also addressed the political fallout following his stepson's death saying politicians will grab anything for attention, and he dismissed the suggestion that those in charge should have done more to beef up security. the thing that struck me most about my conversation was that he emphasized repeatedly that ambassador stevens loved what he did, he loved the region and that in and of itself is very, very gratifying. the family expects to collect his remains later today, and his stepfather also told metahe's going to be cremated and that they will return to northern california with the ambassador's ashes. jenna: good for all of us to remember his family today and the other families affected by what happened in libya, david. thank you.

jon: pennsylvania's highest court is hearing arguments over the state's controversial voter id law today. this comes less than two months before pennsylvania is set to play a major role in deciding this nation's next president. eric eric shawn live at the courthouse in philadelphia with more on that. >> reporter: hey, jon. well, voter id here is on trial. the legal arguments have now been completed, it's up to the justices of the pennsylvania state supreme court to decide whether or not there will be voter id now. it has been enacted here in pennsylvania for november's election. the court hearing this morning was brought on by the aclu, they want an injunction to overturn a lower court ruling in august. that lower court ruling supported voter id, it said that voter id is legal, not discriminatory, reasonable and will not disenfranchise any voter. that's not what demonstrators said before the court hearing. it was sponsored by the naacp. protesters denounced voter id as

anti-democratic, extreme, and they say it will lead to voter fraud. supporters say it will help stop voter suppression. voter id cards are being distributed for free throughout the state by the pennsylvania government. in court, though, the arguments were heated and sharp. >> there is no problem requiring photo id to vote. the vice is in requiring id that people don't have and have a hard time getting. >> the burden, it seems to me, is quite minimal. >> it's minimal if you already have a photo id. >> it's minimal even if you don't, justice, because most people can get photo ids quite easily. >> reporter: there are 8.2 million voters here. they estimate about 759,000 don't have the proper documents, but as of monday, 7,833 did get their free voter id. one of those who got it happens to be the aclu lead plaintiff in their case, 93-year-old vivian

applewhite. she was quoted a couple months ago as saying she believes voter id was enacted to, quote: stop black people from voting so obama will not get reelected. within days of the ruling of the lower court, she went to a local dmv office and did get her free voter id with no problem. those here hope that the justices at state supreme court will certainly rule on this issue before the november election. and, of course, if you suspect voter fraud or voter problems where you live, our address is voter fraud foxnews.com. back to you. jon: eric shawn, thanks. jenna: well, the conversation of two reporters caught on tape at a romney press conference. what they had in mind and whether or not it was ethical. our panel, our news watch panel weighs in just ahead. plus, why is gasoline in one state being sold for more than twice the national average? the answer next. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas.

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jenna: well, some drivers in new jersey and pennsylvania are in for a big shock today, more than 50 gas stations are jacking up prices to more than $9 a gallon. why, rick? why are they doing that? >> reporter: well, it's a protest, and these are jacked-up prices all at the same gas station, the lucoil stations that you find, a company out of russia. they've got 500 gas stations in the northeast and mid atlantic part of the country, and its franchise owners, jenna, are purposely pushed the prices way up as a way of protesting what they have to pay their lucoil suppliers, prices they say that put them at a competitive disadvantage compared to other gas stations. here's one of the owners. >> my cost is on my invoice is what my competitors are selling it on the street.

now, how can anyone survive? >> there are quite a few lukoil franchise dealers that have already turned in their keys, just forfeited their franchises and their investments. >> reporter: that second guy we just heard from is the executive director of the gas station association in new jersey. he says that lukoil charges its station owners seven cents more per gallon than other companies, driving some of them out of business. lukoil says it's not doing anything illegal, accusing the gas station association putting out statements that are hurting others. prices are going to be a lot closer to the national average which according to aaa is $3.86 a gone today. back to you. jenna: all right. well, one-day protest, so it's done. >> reporter: it's done, but you have to wonder if these customers are going to come back. jenna: that's a good question, that's for sure. rick, thank you. jon: usually, when there's news involving an open microphone, it winds up causing trouble for

some celebrity or maybe a poll decision. well, this time two reporters were overheard coordinating their questions for republican presidential nominee mitt romney. >> i would say, do you regret your question? i mean, your statement. not even the tone, because then he can go off on -- jon: so let's talk about it with cal thomas, syndicated columnist and fox news contributor, alan colmes is host of the alan colmes show on syndicated radio. the setting was the news conference that mitt romney put together on the morning after he condemned the obama administration's reaction to the murder of our embassy personnel, consulate personnel in tripoli. he put out a state night

before, and we'll get to that in a moment. but, cal, first of all, your thoughts on the news reporters' reactions? >> well, jon, i think there's a difference between collaboration and collusion. i don't have a problem with reporters getting together and saying, okay, look, we both have the same question here, let's not waste time. we really want to get information out of romney, so you take this question, and i'll take that one. however, collusion is something quite different. if the intent of the question is to get a sound bite that can make romney look bad and be used by the obama re-election team to make him look bad, i think that's quite different. all the surveys have shown over many, many years that most of the mainstream press don't like republicans, don't like conservatives, don't like religious people, hate pro-lifers and all the rest, and this just feeds that perception, frankly. jon: is he right about that, alan? does it just feed that perception? >> cal makes a really good point that there is a difference between collusion and

cooperation, and there is no evidence here that there is collusion. why would we think it's any different when reporters are en masse about to question someone who's a democrat, why jump to the conclusion? the conservatives seem to have this paranoia about the press and want to jump to conclusions. look at the litany of things cal just said about all the things that the press allegedly hate, you know, as if we can make such broad statements of everybody. we have no evidence there was any collusion going on. >> let's just take a look at the just-concluded conventions in tampa and charlotte, alan. >> yeah, i'm sorry about yours. >> listen, we're all americans, they were both mine. [laughter] why didn't the press -- you know, the liberals talk about diversity and why there aren't more people of color and different beliefs in the republican party, but they never apply that statement standard to the democrats, they don't ask why don't you have any pro-lifers there, why don't you make any statemented about the 55 million babies that have been aborted legally in this country? >> wait a minute, you're talking

about two different things. >> no, we're not. >> ethnic makeup versus people on the left who have right-wing views. you're talking about ideology -- >> no, no, we're talking about -- >> versus socioeconomic makeup. >> the perceptions that they convey. you know this, you've been in the business long enough. you know what reporters say in private. they don't like republicans. >> no, see, this is the paranoia we always see on the right. >> it's not paranoia! >> look, the media is pro-media. their job is to get eyeballs to web sites, that's not what it's about. >> but they're not getting them. that's why fox is getting them and nbc, cbs, abc isn't, the newspapers are in decline -- >> well, news newspapers are in decline because of the web, not a left-wing bias. jon: you didn't mention "the wall street journal", and i want to read a clip from their editorial this morning talking about an argument over tuesday's assaults on the embassies in:

jon: isn't that what this is all about? mitt romney came out with a statement on the night of 9/11 saying, essentially, hey, you know, the administration is being too sympathetic to these people who just killed our ambassador. >> well, he's absolutely right. and, again, there's a double standard on this. the media's bought into the war through weakness philosophy of the obama administration. but if you suck up and kiss up instead of buck up against the islamists, that somehow they're going to love us. hillary clinton was widely reported as saying, gee, about the benghazi consulate attack, i can't believe this happened. why did this happen? well, they tell you in the advance that it's going to happen, and most of the media just don't want to believe what -- >> how about reporting that mitt romney earlier in the day said this is 9/11. i don't think it's appropriate to be making political

statements, i'm going to withhold from doing that, but he couldn't contain himself because an hour and a half before the end of 9/11, there he had to go attacking the administration unfairly before all the facts are in and basically accuse the administration of being the spokesperson for an embassy, even though the administration distanced itself from what the embassy said. so that was unfair of mitt romney. he needs to be called to account for that. jon: in fairness, the embassy had been putting out tweets and statements all day long, and it wasn't until 10:10 p.m., right about precisely the same moment mitt romney was making his statement -- >> mitt romney decided to play political politics on 9/11, something he said he would not do. jon: but at 10:10 p.m. the white house was revoking, was backing away from the tweets that had been going out all day from the u.s. embassy. that's worth noting. all right. we have to leave it there. >> okay. jon: all right. alan colmes, cal thomas, thank you. jenna: well, our interests across the middle east, are they under attack right now? what should we do about it? we have a supersized panel to

weigh in on the events over the last 48 hours next.

ed. jenna: the riots in the middle east raising questions about u.s. foreign policy and american leadership in general at this time in history. joining us to talk all about this, we have a great panel for you. retired general jack keane former vice chief of staff of the u.s. army. he is a fox news military analyst. kt mcfarland is fox news

military analyst. tom johnson. his expertise is terrorism. bret stevens a foreign affairs columnist for "the wall street journal" welcome to all. great to have you. a lot has happened in the world over the last 48 hours. so a simple question to start. bret, take your chance with this one. what does this all mean? >> i think beyond the immediate tragedy and the proximate causes i think it is a moment of global weakness for the united states. i think of it as 1979 all over again. america is perceived to be in retreat, out of iraq, soon to be out of afghanistan, possibly facing a nuclear iran. indecisive when it comes to helping friends like israel. we have lost our leverage in egypt. it is not surprising that suddenly the emblems of american power and diplomacy may be coming under attack say the danish embassies were a few years ago.

jenna: kt, do you see it the same way? >> yeah but slightly differently. 18 months ago when the arab spring, arab uprising started why did it happen? 75% of the population is under the age of 30 and they don't have jobs. they wanted economic opportunity and they thought the dictators they had were standing in way of it. they got rid of dictators. they have new governments. guess what, they don't have jobs. so they're looking around for somebody to be angry at, the united states obvious choice. did jihadists al qaeda start this revolution 18 months ago? no. but are they taking advantage of it now? most definitely. jenna: general keane what is our role? what do we do about it is it about creating jobs for these people when we can't create jobs for our own people. or is it something else? >> at result of the political sea change with the arab spring and extremists who have not gained power in the country.

salafies that probably participated in the attack in libya and demonstrating in cairo both lost their power and influence. they are trying to regain it. banging against the united states publicly is way to gain influence. i couldn't agree with bret more. we had a policy of containment with the radicals prior to 9/11. after 9/11 our policy was confrontation. i'm convinced we're disengaging. iraq is evidence of that. timetable to get out of afghanistan is evidence of that. feckless policy leading with iranians to a nuclear weapon is even more dramatic evidence. everybody pays attention to these issues. when i travel around the middle east you hear this over and over again from middle eastern leaders, what is going on with you americans? why are you pulling back? that is really at the heart of the problem here. jenna: tom, is that what you're seeing a as well in your research when you look at terrorism and what role you it plays here?

we look at different groups and some are terrorists and some are not? what do you make of it? >> i think bret nailed it we're in retreat and we are in retreat. this basically has been president obama saying i killed usama bin laden it is over. mitt romney is saying they killed usama bin laden and i don't want to talk about it. the threat of islam i'm -- islamic extremism maintains. this is something growing in the middle east. both libya and egypt i don't think these assaults can be explained away as a general mob reaction to anti-islam film. as despicable and reprehensible as that film is. what we see in both cases sophisticated operation. in libya there was sophisticated attack using direct and indirect fire. in egypt the brother of ayman al-zawahiri, his brother, helped lead protest against the u.s. embassy in cairo. he was out in front of that embassy as they raised

al qaeda's flag. so i think this is really showing us really the fight we have been told over and over again is over, is not over and that we have to have a real discussion about what all this means. jenna: that's what we're trying to do i guess, right, guys? bret, what are our options? if the united states is in the place they're suggesting it is, what truly are our options at this point? >> the united states has been losing leverage all over the middle east since the arab spring began in the beginning of 2011. we lost essentially a client state or client regime in egypt. we've lost, we've squandered whatever leverage we might have had in syria by essentially not wanting to interfere. really the issue is whether the united states is prepared to demonstrate that it will put its will and its resources to confront the rogues that are increasingly minute hasing us. that comes down actually not to egypt but to iran. that seems to be the test case, the crucible of american power. it is also worth pointing out just a week ago the

obama administration was in the process of negotiating forgiveness of more than a billion dollars worth of egyptian debt and yet president morsi, the muslim brotherhood, new president of egypt, was busy essentially denouncing the united states in brussels today because we have something called the first amendment. he lived in california many years of his life. you would think you would learn that much about american constitutional law. jenna: general keane, picking up on that we understand two ships are moving to the coast outside of libya. what do you make of that? and do you think a show of force, whatever that means, and please define it, is necessary here in the region today? >> well, i think much more important than moving navy ships, i'm not saying that doesn't have some influence. number one is, we had a coordinated attack against our consulate which seems to be wholly inadequately protected. that is an issue we've got to resolve. we have to reassess the security but we have to chase down these folks that did this. i wouldn't be dependent on

the government of libya to be able it do it because they can not provide security for their own people much less for us. the militants will be watching us. they know they just killed us. and what are we doing about it, is one of the issues that they will be watching. if they perceive america is still continuing to be weak, it emboldens them to come forward and to do more. and our policy with iran is really the major issue in the region, and the fact of the matter is, we're leading to a decision that is going to probably force the israelis to conduct a military attack that doesn't have the sufficient means and capability that the united states military attack would have versus a policy of permitting the iranians to have nuclear weapons. jenna: there is so much to be talked about. that is all the time we have. it is such a big region. we look forward to having all of you back to talk about this, general keane. kt, thomas. bret, obviously a big topic and worth a lot of tile. thank you. jon: well new york city has vote the to ban the

supersize sigary drinks. what it could mean for a small business near you and your next trip to the movies in the metro area. governor romney on fire by some in his own party for remarks about the middle east. others are coming to his defense. a fair around balanced debate coming up. [ male announcer ] this is sheldo whose long day setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

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jon: governor mitt romney is facing backlash even from some within his own party over comments he made about the president's handling of the attacks in the middle east. matthew dowd, a top strategist for president george w. bush said it almost feels like sarah palin is his foreign policy advisor. just a huge mistake on the romney campaign's part, huge mistake. republican congressman, peter king, the chair of the homeland security committee. romney was right on the larger point but i would

have probably waited a day or half a day. despite criticism others are coming to romney's defense. former defense secretary donald rumsfeld tweeted, attacks on our embassies and diplomats are the result of perceived american weakness. mitt romney is right to point that out. our next guest, rich lowery the editor of the "national review", late tuesday night, romney thoroughly condemned the embassy press release. in rapid confirmmation of romney's wisdom doing so through the statement under the bus. it doesn't reflect the views of the u.s. government. some are asking whether the president should have gone to vegas to campaign in the immediate aftermath of the deaths of our ambassador to libya and the three others in the embassy. joining us rich lowery, editor of "national review" and fox news contributor. with us simon rosenberg, former clinton campaign advisor. rich you say mitt romney was

exactly right say what he said when he did? >> yeah. look he is getting pressure all day because of some major event, attacks on our embassy to issue a statement. he issued a statement that rightly focused on this completely indefensible press release reaffirmed during the day by the embassy in egypt, basically apologizing to these protesters in saying that people in america were abusing their free speech rights which is not the place of one of our embassies to comment on things americans say in this country,%ing their constitutional rights. and for confirmation that that embassy statement was totally indefensible, the white house distanced it telephone from it and threw the statement under the bus and said had nothing to do with it. you would have thought romney had been vindicated. but next morning the press woke up and decided mitt romney had to apologize for something for this. when he didn't, began to write stories how his campaign was basically over and had blown itself up in a lehman moment which is

totally absurd and lays bare the utter bias of our mainstream media once again. jenna: simon that tweet, that initial or series of tweets really from the cairo embassy was, essentially revoked by secretary of state hillary clinton, by, the state department and by mitt romney but only romney g>ap1k taking the heat for attacking it, why? >> well, i think what i would criticize mitt romney for in particular what he did, not in the evening but the next morning. the next morning we had a very volatile situation, americans died and he jumped out in front of the president and secretary of state with a vicious political attack that essentially accused the president of treason. if you listen what he said siding with terrorists and sympathizing with terrorists. it was way over the top. clearly he was trying to change the political dynamic what had been very bad weeks for him in polling and strong democratic performance of their convention. i think he just made a mistake. i want to be clear, i'm not

totally disagreeing with rich in the sense that what happened on tuesday night was one thing. what happened on wednesday was a catastrophic political mistake should not have been done. what i was told yesterday when i was on fox we should be standing shoulder to shoulder with benjamin netanyahu and showing no daylight between the two of us. how about mitt romney standing shoulder to shoulder with president obama in a critical moment with american foreign policy? why it more appropriate to stand with a foreign leader than our own president. it was bad judge mane. that this is least experienced policy team. no foreign policy experience and it showed yesterday. jon: simon, would you say the same thing about the president's decision in the aftermath these deaths, to skip the intelligence briefing and get on air force one and fly out to las vegas. >> the president was clearly in charge, yesterday. secretary of state and he came out. we have a large government that was working on this he did the right thing yesterday. he made the statement clear and unequivocal.

we moved warships off of libya. there are significant actions being taken right now put into place. he is on top of this moving ahead. jon: i'm guessing, rich you have some other thoughts on that. so we'll bring you guys back after a quick break. more with our fair and balanced discussion. coming up haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. wthe future of our medicare andr electiosocial security. for... man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security.

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jon: continuing our discussion of how politics and international affairs have connected here during these events in libya as well as egypt let's bring back rich lowery, the editor for "the national review", also simon rosenberg, former clinton campaign advisor. rich, before the break simon was saying mitt romney was okay in the statement on night of september 11th, it is next morning's news conference he doesn't like. >> yeah, a couple of things to say.

mitt romney criticism of embassy statement was correct. the white house vindicated it. so there is no reason for him to come out wednesday morning or back off or apologize at all. that would have made no sense. two, the obama team has spent a lot of time bragging to reporters about how it is going to use national security as a cudgel against mitt romney in this election. mitt romney punches back, all of sudden everyone who is on obama's side is whining and complaining about it. three, outside of this episode, the statement and press conference, we should be having a big debate about foreign policy and we should be having it right now because our strategic position in the middle east has drastically deteriorated. we have poisonous relations with our most steadfast ally with israel. iraq is sliding into the orbit of iran and perhapsing back into chaos. iran is closer to having a nuclear weapon than it ever has ben before. we're losing ally we had in

egypt. we may be throwing away all the gains in afghanistan that we had a year ago because the arbitrary deadline and pakistanis hate us all together. that is the foreign policy record the president wants to run on. mitt romney reaction should be bring it on, let's have a big debate. jon: simon, give you 15 seconds to respond. >> four quick points. under president obama we've seen essentially elimination of al qaeda and assassination of usama bin laden a significant accomplishment, not taken, not achieved by george bush. second is, we've seen what we wanted for 40 years in the middle east, movement towards democracies and open markets and political "operation enduring freedom" dom and free countries last few years. the arab spring has been a success. may not be five or 10 years from now. today we have to applaud what happened in the region. third there is international coalition working to contain iran. there has never been this level of international support before. jon: we'll have to leave it. >> i agree --

[both talking at once] bring on the foreign policy debate. jon: we have to say good-bye. we'll be right back caroline penry began using olay total effects in 2001. and one wedding, 2 kids, 43 bottles of olay total effects and many birthdays later, still looks amazing. thanks to the trusted performance of olay.

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